J1772 not fitting in socket.

I think I've seen other threads here and on the volt forum where people have gotten twigs and whatnot stuck in their charge ports. Well, something odd happened to me today that took me a while to figure out so I thought I'd pass it along. I have the Nissan-branded Aerovironment 240V EVSE in my garage. When I went to plug it into the Volt today, it wouldn't go all of the way in. It went in most of the way but would not click into place. I kept pulling it out and looking inside of it and inside of the charge port on the Volt and couldn't find any obstruction. I tried it on the Leaf and it wouldn't plug in there either. After scratching my head a bit and re-examining the situation I finally discovered the cause. There is a tiny rubber O-Ring or something of that sort towards the back of the J1772 connector, towards the very back. It had come slightly out of its place and what was happening was when I would insert the connector into a vehicle, it would catch on and pull the O-Ring out even more and it would interfere with the insertion. I was able to use a small screwdriver to pop the ring back into place and so far it has not given me any trouble. I believe this happened when snapping the connector back into the receptacle on the EVSE itself for when it is not in use.

Thanks for the Heads-Up.

See this thread started "Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:15 am" : http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2529" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and my particular post dated "Mon May 14, 2012 11:35 am" : http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2529&start=41" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over the course of 16 months now, mine's done that a couple times too. I just press it back into place and it works fine, but eventually it works its way back out just enough to be difficult to insert.

Probably could put some sort of grease on the oring and it would last longer. Either way now that I know it's at 1-minute fix so I'm not worried about it

I spray both the plug and the socket with silicone from time to time which also makes insertion and removal easier.

My O-ring is still sitting in its "removed" state ... next to me at my desk

That happened to both of the Yazaki connectors on the Nissan branded Aerovironment units at my local dealership.

This weekend I arrived in Palo Alto with only 2 bars remaining and found this problem on the only available J1772 in the public garage... luckily I had read this thread a few days earlier! I fixed it with the screwdriver blade on my Swiss army knife and got a bit of juice while shopping. How about that! Knowledge really is power! (about 2kWh in my case.)

Since I am a cheap bastard, I went to the quick charger at Intuit on Marsh Road afterwards, even though I could have made it home easily with 2-3 bars.

TomT said:

I spray both the plug and the socket with silicone from time to time which also makes insertion and removal easier.

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Any particular brand? Comments from others on this?

ksnogas2112 said:

TomT said:

I spray both the plug and the socket with silicone from time to time which also makes insertion and removal easier.

Click to expand...

Any particular brand? Comments from others on this?

Click to expand...

These look like Yazaki plugs. That's surprising, I thought they were really high quality.

No spray for me; it's amazing how good/trouble-free those Nissan provided (Panasonic) chargers are, which is why so many upgrade them. I still haven't bought a second/backup EVSE.

If I understand the original post, the problem is caused, or at least exacerbated by plugging into the EVSE when not in use. I have found there is no good reason to insert the plug back into the wall-mounted EVSE, although if yours is outside with bugs, etc. maybe you need to. In my garage, I just drape the plug over the handle of my lawn mower and keep it stretched out. The constant winding and unwinding I did the first week or so was hard on the cord and on me, and I had to keep walking around to the far side of the car where there is little room. Now the plug is just five or six feet from the socket in the car and the cord doesn't kink. Once a week I lay it on the floor so I can mow, then I replace it. Perhaps that would eliminated the O-ring problem, too.

I have the Clipper Creek CS-40 and have had no issues in the last 14 months.

Stanton said:

No spray for me; it's amazing how good/trouble-free those Nissan provided (Panasonic) chargers are, which is why so many upgrade them. I still haven't bought a second/backup EVSE.

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The Nissan unit also uses the Yazaki plug, iirc.

I imagine what happens is stiction builds up between the o-ring and the molded inlet of the car and at some point overcomes the holding force between the o-ring and its groove when the plug is pulled out. A bit of silicone spray sounds like a good idea. Instead of spraying the whole plug, contacts, etc, I think I'll wipe a bit on the outside part of the molded inlet on the car and let transference do the rest.

Nubo said:

Stanton said:

No spray for me; it's amazing how good/trouble-free those Nissan provided (Panasonic) chargers are, which is why so many upgrade them. I still haven't bought a second/backup EVSE.

Click to expand...

The Nissan unit also uses the Yazaki plug, iirc.

I imagine what happens is stiction builds up between the o-ring and the molded inlet of the car and at some point overcomes the holding force between the o-ring and its groove when the plug is pulled out. A bit of silicone spray sounds like a good idea. Instead of spraying the whole plug, contacts, etc, I think I'll wipe a bit on the outside part of the molded inlet on the car and let transference do the rest.

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Can someone post a picture of the offending O-ring location?

Leafboy said:

Can someone post a picture of the offending O-ring location?

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Look at the third post in this thread. Second link referenced therein.

LEAFer said:

Leafboy said:

Can someone post a picture of the offending O-ring location?

Click to expand...

Look at the third post in this thread. Second link referenced therein.

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Thanks!

Rat said:

.... In my garage, I just drape the plug over the handle of my lawn mower and keep it stretched out. The constant winding and unwinding I did the first week or so was hard on the cord and on me, and I had to keep walking around to the far side of the car where there is little room. Now the plug is just five or six feet from the socket in the car and the cord doesn't kink.

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My Blink EVSE came with a "hose reel" accessory to wind the cable on when not in use (same as public EVSE). But I do as you do - I simply drape the connector and first foot or so over the reel, leaving the rest of the cable on the floor under the reel. Since the reel is only three feet away from the Leaf socket, its just a matter of "grab and spin" to plug in the car.

Yes, the problem is the molded plastic protuberance on the bottom of the AV unit. It's designed to conveniently hold the handle when not in use. Unfortunately it has a sharp edge which can dislodge the round silicone rubber seal. This is especially exacerbated when you put the handle onto this at an angle.

The Yazaki connector is rugged and well-designed. If you don't use this storage slot feature on your AV, you will not have this problem. I recommend you drape the cord over the round AV housing such that the connector part hangs down. This allows for drainage if wet, and keeps any water from getting in.

The Panasonic units we upgrade do not seem to ever suffer from this in the field.

-Phil

Ingineer said:

Yes, the problem is the molded plastic protuberance on the bottom of the AV unit. It's designed to conveniently hold the handle when not in use. Unfortunately it has a sharp edge which can dislodge the round silicone rubber seal. This is especially exacerbated when you put the handle onto this at an angle.

The Yazaki connector is rugged and well-designed. If you don't use this storage slot feature on your AV, you will not have this problem. I recommend you drape the cord over the round AV housing such that the connector part hangs down. This allows for drainage if wet, and keeps any water from getting in.

The Panasonic units we upgrade do not seem to ever suffer from this in the field.

-Phil

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LEAFer said:

My O-ring is still sitting in its "removed" state ... next to me at my desk

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I am not wanting to argue with Phil's diagnosis ... but, please note that on our CT-500 we do NOT use the holster. Due to a goof during install the electrician placed the unit in such a way that the holster can not be attached. The holster is thus *also* sitting in its "removed" state ... next to me at my desk

The CT-500 J-plug is Yazaki Assembly 7335-8523. It has been in repeated use on both a Volt and LEAF since May2011. The plug is stored by hanging loosely from the support below the main unit, as show in the second photo (in contrast to as-designed showing in the first photo).




Edit: Correction: in use since May2011, not May2012.